French broadcasters Canal+ have recently filmed a new documentary called ‘Jesus Football Club’ (which is due to air tonight) in which various Ligue 1 players were invited to talk about religion’s place in sport and also discuss their relationship with their special imaginary friends, God and Jesus and the like.

PSG centre-half Alex was interviewed as part of the programme and, of course, the topic of homosexuality came up as it always tends to do – with the Brazilian defender making some very dubious comments on the matter, including a clever spin on that old classic bible-thumpin’ retort, ‘It’s Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve,” complete with some clever Gallic wordplay…

35Comments

Hold on a minute, if you can be pro gay then why cant you be anti-gay because its your beliefs? the whole point is the freedom to choose and accepting everyones choices/beliefs no? im not saying slating it is the right way to go though… but its worth a ponder.

Not that surprising really, Brazil is still a heavily Catholic country, and his statements seem to reflect that. I’m not particularly bothered what some numpty has to say about it though – much rather concentrate on progress: well done Der Hammer!

Well guess what? I agree with him. He stands for what he believes, even if if’s considered controversial.

Of course, nowadays you’ve always got to be liberal and fully support everyones alternative lifestyle, even if it is against what you consider right. And saying you don’t agree with ones lifestyle isn’t hate speak.

Hold on guys, these two seemed to given the issue a lot of thought. Lets not dismiss too quickly.

Now, if you look closely at what they both have to say about it, even just those one-liners, I do not think it is too presumptuous to believe that Alex & Marcos have decided that being homosexual is, in fact, a choice. Good for them for choosing their own paths.

That begs a question, however; when did these two fellows choose to be attracted to women?

@Chris- you are slating these two for a lack of tolerance, but you then brand God and Jesus as imaginary friends. Surely if tolerance is the goal then you writing off the beliefs of roughly a billion people is wrong as well.

Yeah guys we all know that they are old school beliefs and have no place in the modern world, but either does M&S allowing their Muslim employees to refuse to sell pork and alcohol to customers. To be honest, they should be allowed to think whatever they want so long as they don’t act on it. People talk about everyone having equal rights, but there you go doing exactly what you are trying to prevent, and condemning people for having different beliefs to the current “norm”. Let them believe what they want.

Of course its not right to infringe another’s right, that is what I said, as long as they don’t act on it. Where is the harm in him personally disapproving of homosexuality when he is not campaigning against gay rights or abusing them?

If I think that being an idiot is not OK, and there are obviously a lot of people that were born idiots, who is anyone to say that I’m wrong? Personal opinion and beliefs are nobody’s business. Disagree with them as you may, but he is perfectly entitled to think what he wants. I say that as an arsenal fan, a person who doesn’t believe in any form of religion and who has has no issue with gay people.

@ theres only one John @ jarren – I think your missing the point that Jarren made so well, it’s not acceptable to be homophobic just because it’s your belief in the same way as it’s not ok to be racist just because thats your belief, that is the mindset that needs to be changed. As far as not acting on it I would argue that going on a TV programme with potentially millions of viewers and expressing that view is acting on it

Hopefully they are virgins when they marry and their wives are virgins because it says in the bible if your wife is not a virgin then you have to kill her. But these days you pick and choose what parts of the bible you want to believe in and what fits your life style. I am amaze that in the 21st century that people still let this collection of stories influence their lives

so someone shares their beliefs (in this case, Christian) by saying they believe homosexuality is wrong and all you leftist morons retort with is “he’s an uneducated idiot because of his beliefs, he should be more tolerant”… not realizing the intolerance in that thinking itself… liberalism, what a horrible disease where you’re forced to adopt society’s ever sickening standards without being able to think for yourself… all in the name of tolerance and progress of course

merely stating you disagree with someone’s lifetyle (not their ability to pursue it, mind you) is bigoted and homophobic? this is what the sick disease called leftism is doing to free speech and free thought in this world…

He has a right to say what he likes. Nobody is taking that right away from him. People have a right to criticise him, nobody should belittle or attempt to take that right away either.

There’s a frustration evident in a lot of the supporters of this kind of arse gravy. Some of it is old fashioned bigotry and some of it is conflated with a frustration with the Left (which as a life long leftist, I also feel at times).
Don’t get them confused. Your political/religious choice is just that; a choice. Your sexual orientation like your eye colour is predetermined genetically.
Therefore you have a ‘right’ to question a political/religious choice but not someone’s genetic predisposition. You can if you like, but it’s like shouting at a tree for not being a sheep.

@Dusty: You’re damn right I’m sneering at people with religious faith! The faith in question has caused literally hundreds of of young lives to be ruined through paedophillic abuse, widespread overpopulation and AIDS through an idiotic ban on condoms, not to mention turning a blind eye to the holocaust and actively helping those who perpetrated it to escape.

Pull a straight face and tell me that this faith is less evil than ‘fruitcakes who like men to stick their cocks up their hole’, as you so eloquently put it.

@Bastiat. I think you’re confusing ‘liberalism’ with the cult of ‘rights’ and you’re not the only one. However, I’ll state it again, one is a predisposition and one is an opinion. Anyone who would criticise a predisposition (or as said earlier in that loaded phrase ‘lifestyle’) isn’t just unfair/wrong they’re daft because there’s nothing that they can do about it…or more importantly *want* to.
If you live your life by certain tenets like politics or religion and feel the need to share that with us then have the balls to put up with the flack and to defend your position. Invariably ‘it’s in this ‘ere book’ is all the thought they’ve put into it, so you can hardly ‘respect’ them.
Having said that, so long as nobody is suggesting death to people for what they are (and I think we know at least one religion that does that!) I’m happy for people to believe what they like. Whatever gets you through the night and all that.
If they start coming for me though, they better be ready for a fight.

@Bastiat, I think you’re confusing ‘liberalism’ with the ‘offence culture’. This person has a right to say things others find offensive, no real liberal would ever seek to take that away from him.
However, the right to freedom of speech about a belief should never outweigh the right to be who you are. This is where the waters get muddy and liberals often flounder. They shouldn’t, it’s easy. To ‘disapprove’ of someone because of what they are genetically is just daft. It’s a cul de sac, a discursive non starter. The word ‘lifestyle’ was used. What lifestyle? You don’t get one provided for you at birth when you’re gay anymore than if you’re straight. If the allusion is to (it usually is) hedonistic promiscuity, you only have to look at any high street anywhere to see that it’s not exclusive to gay people. So what anyway? People go out and have sex and ‘party’ sounds like a lot of hard work to me…but big fucking deal, have their critics got nothing else to worry about?
It’s interesting how moralistic people become when there is no danger the spotlight will be turned on them.
I’d agree with everyone above who says ‘each to their own’ about religious belief…I’m not a believer but I feel no particular threat from UK Christianity other than when it wants to stick it’s nose into my life..then they’ve got a fight on their hands. They can have their opinions, they can express them, but they shouldn’t whine when asked to explain them further. Let’s face it it for most ‘believers’ their answer is ‘it’s in that book’. Not a very robust defence.

This is a moot point fortunately. Seeing as some commenters clearly don’t like reasoned debate based on logic and experience – ‘leftist’ or whatever you want to call it, let me put this in a more fascist style of debate:

Thankfully we are (in the UK) now at a point in society where people who disagree with homosexuality and look down upon gay people are looked upon in that same way by everyone else. Sadly I feel I have to clarify further – If you are a homophobic man imagine the feeling you get seeing 2 men kissing (don’t imagine 2 women kissing, this an emotional minefield to a homophobic male). This is the feeling everyone else gets when they hear your opinion, disgust.

You can argue all you want about how you are entitled to you opinion and free speech (some might say you are getting a bit left wing there). You can argue also about how the opinion is somehow justified, but luckily you are self aware enough to know that nowadays you would be wiser to do this using keyboard anonymity because your opinion makes you look like an uneducated moron and a bigot.

The argument is over, and you lost, so do everyone a favour and forget the single passage of text from whatever ancient book it is you use to justify your moronic stance and focus on one of the thousands of others from the same book which directly contradict it. If you are basing your dislike of homosexuality on something other than doctrine, or you are just ‘naturally’ uncomfortable with it, I would advise you to forget the pressures you and those around you have built up and give into those suppressed desires you have for so long stifled with self hatred.

I don’t think there is such a thing as a homophobic, straight atheist who has formed their own opinions. If however you do believe that this is you, try getting some therapy to find out why you seek to impose your beliefs on other peoples lives when they have absolutely nothing to do with you or have any affect on your life whatsoever.

In summary, you are entitled to your opinion, and you are entitled to voice it just like I have with my own here. Fortunately my opinion makes me look like a reasonable, if not slightly arrogant, and obviously bored, human being. Just know that yours makes you look like a sexually repressed Nazi.

@einstein – I disagree with your lifestyle choice. That doesn’t make me a bigot or a homophobe. Explain that one.

@Jay and Dusty
Some people (you) make it very easy to sneer at religious faith. In reality all you are doing is shooting yourself in the foot by holding ridiculous opinions which you tenuously link to religion. This discredits your belief system as a whole. Religion can be amazing, help people through impossible times, reform criminals, make life worth living. It can also be used to justify atrocities, to dictate and control those who are different for personal gain and to ruin lives. It’s depressing but somewhat understandable when those in power use it for gain, but when people get indoctrinated and spew this bile… for what?… it’s just pathetic.

@bastiat
Homophobia is not a Christian belief. Don’t insult a whole religion just because you have picked a bit out to suit your own agenda. You gave it away with ‘society’s ever sickening standards’ referring to not being allowed to openly discriminate against homosexuals. If you don’t like the West and it’s standards move to Uganda, you’ll feel at home there.